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SPECIAL REPORT 

ON THE 


COAL-FIELD OF LITTLE SEOUATCH 

• • 

WITH A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE 


CUMBERLAND TABLE-LAND. 


By J. B. KILLEBREW, 

Commissioner of Agriculture, Statistics and Mines. 


NASHVILLE: 

TAVEL, EASTMAN & HOWELL. 

1876. 
































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SPECIAL REPORT 


ON THE 


COAL-FIELD OF LITTLE SEQUATCHEE, 


WITH A 


General Description of the Cumberland 



By J. B. KILLEBREW, 

Commissioner of Agriculture , Statistics and Mines. 


NASHVILLE : 

TAVEL, EASTMAN & HOWELL. 

1876 . 











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To His Excellency , Gov. Jas. D. Porter : 

I herewith submit one of a series of papers on the 
coal-field of Tennessee. This will be followed by others as 
rapidly as they can be prepared with accuracy. It is a 
striking fact, and one that is by no means creditable to the 
enterprise or appreciation of our citizens, that while the 
coal-bearing lands of Pennsylvania well situated as to 
transportation, will bring in the market from $100 to $1000 
per acre, lands equally as productive in coal may be bought 
in our State at prices ranging from one dollar to twenty 
dollars per acre, depending upon the quality of the coal, 
improvements made, and accessibility to market. Many of 
these coal-fields lie contiguous to deposits of iron as rich 
and as exhaustless as may be found upon the continent. 
Can nothing be done to bring Tennessee to the front in 
these departments of industry—the mining of coal and the 
making of iron ? Surely here is a field which, when occu¬ 
pied, will do much to relieve our people from the burden 
of taxation that presses with increasing weight each year. 
The early development of our mineral wealth will diminish 
taxation, stimulate enterprise and increase production in 
every department of human industry. The measure of 
wealth and civilization is the production of coal and the 
use of iron. As long, therefore, as civilization exists there 
will be a growing demand for these two articles so abund¬ 
ant in our State. Financial depression and consequent bus¬ 
iness stagnation may curtail this demand for a time, b^J the 
quantity required after such periods of stagnation is always 
greater than before such periods began. No time is more 
opportune than the present for reaching the ear of the iron 


4 


masters. They are looking throughout the domain of civil¬ 
ization for places where iron can be made cheapest. Our 
boast has been that we can, with sufficient capital, make it 
at a profit without the tariff, and may even ship without loss 
the products of our furnaces to England. If this be so, no 
effort should be spared to bring this fact before the minds 
of iron men. 

Cheap iron depends upon cheap fuel. The very fact that 
our richest coal-lands may be bought at a nominal price is 
a virtual guarantee of cheap fuel. The proximity of this 
fuel to rich iron ores gives the State the double advantage 
of cheap fuel and cheap ore. I am happy to be able to 
state that many capitalists of the North and Europe have 
manifested their interest in our coal and iron-fields, and are 
ardently seeking for information on these subjects. To 
supply this information, in part, is the leading object of this, 
and will be of the succeeding pamphlets. 

Respectfully submitted, 

J. B. KILLEBREW* 

June 6, 1876. 



\ 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE COAL-FIELD. 


The primary object of this paper is to give a specific ac¬ 
count of all that portion of the coal-field drained by the 
Little Sequatchee river, including the Tracy City Mines. It 
is important, however, to a proper understanding to give a 
general description of the physical aspects and aptitudes of 
the entire 

COAL FIELD OF TENNESSEE. 

This is included in the great Appalachian coal-field of 
the United States, which extends from Pennsylvania to Ala¬ 
bama, and comprises 80,000 square miles, 60,000 of which 
will furnish available coal. Its area in Tennnessee is 5,100 
square miles, which area includes the whole of the Cumber¬ 
land Table-land. This division of the State forms an irreg¬ 
ular quadrilateral, having the northern and southern bound- 
eries nearly parallel, the former being about 71 miles long, 
and the latter or southern boundary being about 50 miles 
in length. The other two sides run diagonally through the 
State in a northeasterly and southwesterly direction. A 
central longitudinal line would bear about north 20° east. 

This region has, for the most part, a flat top composed of 
conglomerate sandstone, or pudding stone, which'forms the 
general surface. The thickness of this conglomerate varies 
from 20 to 150 feet, the average probably being near 70 
feet. On the edges of the Table-land it forms a bold line 
of steep cliffs almost inaccessible, except where it has been 











6 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


cut through by streams, or crumbled down by erosion. At 
the foot of this bold, and oftentimes over-hanging, brow the 
sides of the mountain take a general slope to the low-lands 
below. These slopes are covered with a dense growth of 
excellent timber, and the soil, though difficult to cultivate 
by reason of the steepness of the sides, is of great fertility. 
The western edge of the Tennessee coal-field is very irreg¬ 
ularly lined, being jagged and scalloped by numerous coves 
and ravines with outlying knobs, separated by gorges or fis¬ 
sures from the main Table-land. The eastern outline is near¬ 
ly a straight line, bulging out, however, in one place so as to 
take in parts of Roane, Anderson and Campbell counties. 
The southern half of the Table-land is cleft by a fissure 
from 800 to 1000 feet deep, which reveals all the geological 
formations from the Upper Silurian to the Upper Coal 
Measures. Through this the Big Sequatchee River flows. 
By this almost perpendicular fissure the southern half of the 
Tennessee coal-field is divided into two distinct arms. 
The eastern arm is about twelve miles wide and seventy 
miles long, and is known as Walden’s Ridge. The western 
arm has an average width of thirty-five miles. The two 
arms \unite above the head of Sequatchee Valley. The 
lower half of the western arm contains the Little Sequatchee 
coal region, which we propose to describe. 

The average heighth of the Cumberland Table-land is 
about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, but at places it 
rises to a much greater altitude. In the northeastern part 
where its plateau character is to a great extent lost, there 
are some peaks that attain an elevation of over 3000 feet. 
Crsos Mountain, opposite Jacksboro, has an altitude of 
3370 feet, and the mountain at Coal Creek, in Anderson 
county, attains even a greater height. Looking at the 
Table-land fi ’om the valley of Uast Tennessee it stands out 
with singular boldness and sharpness of outline, like a huge 
fortification, difficult to scale and impossible to demolish. 


/ 


COAL-FIELD. 


7 


It forms, indeed, the chief barrier to intercourse between 
the people of East and Middle Tennessee, and it was found 
impracticable twenty years ago to construct a railway line 
running east and west through the State. Skillful engineer¬ 
ing, however, has been able to overcome this natural obstacle 
to the course of the locoihotive engine. Some account of 
the geological character of this Table-land is also necessary 
in order to give the reader a clear idea of the extent of our 
coal deposits. 

First swelling up from the low-lands, and forming the 
massive foundation of the Table-land, is the Mountain lime¬ 
stone which has an average thickness of about 500 feet. 
This limestone is of different shades of color and varied 
character as to weathering qualities. Here may be seen 
the blue, the buff, the gray. • Some beds are thin and flaggy, 
some heavy, others of moderate thickness. Some are crin- 
oidal, some oolitic, and some argillaceous. The latter 
breaks with a conchoidal fracture, is very fine grained, and 
has been used for lithographic purposes. It also makes a 
good hydraulic cement. Some of the interstratified sand¬ 
stones make excellent flags. In White and Bledsoe coun¬ 
ties, these flags are very abundant as well as of excellent 
quality. Among the limestones and sandstones of the 
Mountain is found very superior building stone. Much of 
the limestone is sufficiently fine grained for the carver’s 
work. The upper layers of sandstone display a beautiful 
variegated and laminated appearance. This stone works 
with ease, and makes both a handsome and durable building. 
When first quarried it is soft, but it becomes very hard by 
exposure. 

LOWER COAL MEASURES. 

Between the Mountain limestone and the top of the main 
conglomerate which forms the general surface of the Table¬ 
land, there is a series of strata composed of shales, sand¬ 
stones, fire-clay and coal. The average thickness of this 


8 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


series, including the conglomerate rock, is about 400 feet, 
thinning out in some of the counties to 200 or less. This 
series constitutes the Lower Coal Measures. There are 
usually three well defined seams of coal in the Lower Coal 
Measures: 

1. The Slate Vein .—This occurs from twenty to sixty feet 
above the Mountain limestone, and is called the Slate Vein, 
because overlying it is a bed of shale from fifteen to twenty 
feet thick. A rusty-colored shale often appears beneath. 
The coal in this seam is from one to three feet thick, and 
is very hard and lustrous. 

2. The Cliff Vein .—This lies sixty to eighty feet above 
the Slate Vein, and is capped by a heavy sandstone, which 
forms a well defined cliff above ihe coal. This seam is from 
one to twelve feet thick; coal hard and much like that of 
the Slate Vein. 

3. The Sub-conglomerate Vein .—This is too thin to work 
at the outcrop, and is important only in showing its wonder¬ 
ful persistency. It is from six inches to two feet thick, 
affording excellent coal. 

These three seams are the only beds of coal that are 
known to exist in the Lower Coal Measures. One other has 
been suspeeted, but there are reasons for believing that it is 
a drop from the Cliff Vein. 

UPPER COAL MEASURES. 

Superimposed upon the main or table-covering con¬ 
glomerate are many billowy ridges composed of sandstone 
and shales, with several coal seams. In the region around 
Tracy City there are usually four of these seams, only one 
of which, the main Sewanee, may be considered valuable. 
At Coal Creek, in Anderson County, where the Upper 
Coal Measures reach a much greater thickness, the number 
of seams is greatly increased. According to Prof. Brad¬ 
ley, there are twenty-one seams at Coal Creek, eight of 


COAL-FIELD. 


9 


which are workable. The seams in the Upper Coal Meas¬ 
ures appear to be more uniform in thickness, but the coal 
usually has not the hardness, nor will it bear transportation 
so well as that of the Lower Measures. 

In the region which we propose to describe in this report 
there are only four seams in the Upper Coal Measures: 

1. Twenty feet above the main conglomerate which di¬ 
vides the Upper from the Lower Coal Measures, the first 
seam is met with, which is usually from one to two feet 
thick, sometimes swelling out to a thickness of four feet, 
with thirty feet of shale above separating it from 

2. The Main Sewanee. This varies in thickness from two 
to seven feet, usually about four feet, and is capped by 
a bed of shale from fifteen to twenty feet thick. Sometimes 
the sandstone lies immediately above the coal. The quality 
of this coal is well known, on account of its having been 
mined more extensively than any other in the State. It is 
a very pure coal, bituminous, spumous, fragile with 
contorted laminae; highly esteemed as a heat generator, be¬ 
ing what is called a long-flamed coal. It makes excellent 
coke, which is used extensively in the manufacture of pig- 
iron, and in rolling mills. The greatest and almost the only 
objection to the coal of this seam is its tendency to slack or 
disintegrate upon exposure to the atmosphere. At a few 
of the outcrops of this seam, however, the coal is cubical 
and of great specific gravity, preserving the purity of the 
upper seams and the hardness of the lower. Such coal is 
found at Deakins’ Bank, in Sequatchee county, and at 
Kelly’s Bank, in Marion. Both of these banks will be 
described hereafter. 

3d and 4th. Two thin seams of coal 160 and 200 feet 
above the Main Sewanee. These seams are almost useless, 
the thickest showing only one foot of good coal. 

To summarize: The coal-field is separated by the main 
conglomerate into the Upper and Lower Coal Measures. 


10 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


The Lower Measures have three seams of coal, two of which 
are workable. The Upper Measures in the northeastern 
part of the coal-field have eight workable seams, and in the 
southern part only one which is the Main Sewanee. 

Before concluding the general view of the Table-land it 
may be well to give some account of the soil, crops, highland 
pastures, timber, climate, and other features of general 
interest. 

The soil resulting mainly from the disintegration of 
sandstone is greatly deficient in calcareous matter. It is 
thin and porous, and not well adapted to general field crops. 
There are, however, a few basins in which the soil is moder¬ 
ately productive, and will make satisfactory returns when 
planted in corn, wheat, tobacco, or other crops suited to the 
latitude. 


The soils everywhere, however, are suited to the growth 
of Irish potatoes, garden vegetables, grapes and apples. 
The Irish potatoes are unexcelled by any grown in America. 
They are not only large, but very mealy, and of a delight¬ 
ful, mild flavor. The average yield is about 100 bushels 
per acre. The crop is a profitable one, when a market 
can be reached. What is said of Irish potatoes as to 
superiority may be affirmed also of cabbage, onions, and 
other garden vegetables. 

In all the State there is no place that will in the least 
compare with the Table-land in the healthfulness of the ap¬ 
ple tree and in the production of the apple. An examina¬ 
tion of fifty orchards failed to disclose a single diseased tree. 
The extreme porosity of the soil permits the roots to take 
a wide range in search of sustenance, and they do not knot 
up and become diseased as when planted upon land having 
a compact sub-soil. Barely does it happen that the apple 
crop fails in this region. Thousands of bushels are dried 
and shipped every year. The apple crop is indeed the chief 
of all the crops planted upon this mountain. 


COAL-FIELD. 


11 


The apple is, however, finding a rival in the grape. 
During the past few years thousands of grape vines have 
been planted, and the yield has in every instance proven 
satisfactory. About fifty acres are now in vineyards around 
Tracy City, and so certain is the yield of the grape that its cul¬ 
tivators rely upon it with as much certainty as the coal miners 
do upon the yield of coal. The pure air of the mountain 
develops in the grape an unusual amount of saccharine 
juices, making it not only valuable for the manufacture of 
wine but highly palatable for table use. The yield is always 
abundant, and no disease of any kind has attacked the vine, 
and no insect has ravaged the fruit. In time, this Table¬ 
land, with its sandstone soil and swelling ridges, will furnish 
many Johannisbergs, and the fame of its wine will meet 
that of the Rhine and contest for supremacy. 

But there are other profitable uses to which these lands 
may be applied. Of all the localities in the State there is 
none where stock raising can be carried on with such small 
outlay. The wide expanse of open woods is covered with 
a luxuriant growth of native grasses and wild peas, upon 
which cattle feed until they fairly roll in fat. The delicious¬ 
ness of the mountain-fed beef is proverbial. It brings a 
high price in market, and always commands a ready sale. 

This mountain grass springs up in April, and soon covers 
the surface with its verdant turf. From this time until 
November it supplies grazing to thousands of sheep and 
cattle, and is the chief reliance of many farmers who live 
in the valleys. No place is more healthy for sheep. They 
are indeed as healthy as the deer. No disease ever prevails 
among them, and they, as well as cattle, require but little 
attention from their owners for eight months in the year, 
except salting. 

Herd’s grass and clover, as well as orchard grass, grow 
well when properly seeded. The hay from these will carry 
stock through the winter months without any other proven- 


12 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


der. Indeed, sheep often subsist during the winter upon 
the ferns and mosses that flourish in unrivalled luxuriance 
about the elevated swamps that here and there occur upon 
the Table-land, while the sheltering coves protect them 
from the wintry blasts or shield them from the ardent rays 
of a summer’s sun. Stock water is everywhere abundant. 
Springs abound and streams thread the almost level surface 
in every direction. Wells are dug, and water found all 
over this mountain at a depth of from ten to twenty feet. 
The water is soft, limpid, pure, and as good as may be 
found anywhere on the globe. It is delightfully cool, and 
is purified by being filtered through sand. Sometimes this 
sand is ferruginous, then the water is chalybeate. Natural 
chalybeate springs abound in many places on the Table¬ 
land. Many of these springs have attained a national 
reputation. As summer resorts, the airy heights of the 
Table-land have no superior. The atmosphere is cool and 
bracing, and the lassitude so general in the lowlands 
during summer, gives place to bodily strength and ac¬ 
tivity upon these 'mountain heights. Chills and fevers 
are unknown. Malaria, with its debilitating influences, is 
dissipated by the breezes that sweep so delightfully over 
the mountain-top. The warmest nights of August are so 
cool that blankets are in demand. Consumptives find great 
relief from the mountain air, and dyspeptics soon accpiire 
the most vigorous appetites and enjoy the grossest food. 
No cholera has ever visited this region. 

While the mountain is healthy, and of great value as 
grazing grounds; while apples and grapes yield munifi¬ 
cently, and garden vegetables, potatoes especially, find here 
a congenial soil, yet candor compels us to confess that with 
the exception of a few local areas, the cereals cannot be 
grown with any profit. By heavy manuring fifteen 
bushels of wheat have been obtained per acre, but this yield 
is exceptional. 


COAL-FIELD. 


13 


Nor do peaches thrive. It is almost as difficult to find a 
healthy peach tree as it is to find an unhealthy apple tree. 
The climate is too rigorous for the peach—the thermometer 
through the summer marking a temperature of six or eight 
and even ten degrees lower than in the central parts of the 
State. The winters are much colder thongh, owing to the 
dryness of the soil, the purity of the atmosphere, and the 
absence of mud, they are not so disagreeable. The air is 
invigorating, and there is a brightness in the atmosphere 
surpassing that of an Italian sky. 

The honey-bees find here a climate and food suited to 
their nature. Swarms are found in the forest, and bee¬ 
hunting is yet a profitable pastime with many of the inhab¬ 
itants. Bee-keeping is a growing industry, and honey 
forms no inconsiderable part of the daily food of the in¬ 
habitants. Indeed, this is literally a land flowing with 
milk and honey, for the abundant highway pasturage is 
capable of sustaining myriads of herds of cattle, while the 
flowers that enamel the open woods, and the blooms that 
fill the air with fragrant odors, make this an Eden for the 
honey-bee. 

The growths supplying honey are the red maple, wild 
plum, dogwood, sassafras, dewberry, blackberry, goose¬ 
berry, apple, willow, wild cherry, black gum, black locust, 
poplar*, white clover, holly, linden, persimmon, wild grape, 
sumac and aster. In addition to these, the open woods in 
May blush in unseen beauty with almost every description 
of wild flower, whose nectareous sweets supply material for 
the most delightful honey. 

The timber of the Table-land is quite variable as to 
quantity and quality. Usually upon the top the surface 
is gently undulating, and covered with thin forests of white 
oak, black oak, chestnut, chestnut oak, and some pines. 


* By poplar, wherever used in this pamphlet, is meant the lyriodendron 
tulipifera, or tulip tree. * 




14 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


Through these woods the eye roams over grasssy stretches o 
hill and dale, with an occasional laurel or ivy thicket bor¬ 
dering a stream, where the luxuriant wild grape vines hang 
like cordage from tree to tree, and the azalea sparkles 
with delicate beauty in the shade, filling the air with its 
perfume. Near these streams the timber increases in size, 

as also around the marshy spots, that frequently occur. 
Here also are found hemlock and holly. Upon the 

general level ravines are sometimes met with. The 
land near the head of such ravines has at first a barely 
perceptible slope. This slope increases from every side 
until the surface drained extends for miles in every direc¬ 
tion. The rush of water after heavy rains, down these 
ravines, becomes terrific. In course of ages a deep channel 
is scooped out, and an almost impassible gulf is> formed. 
The sides of these gulfs are clothed with the finest timber 
wherever the erosion has gone down as far as the underly¬ 
ing limestone. Big Sequatchee Valley, to which reference 
has already been made, is due more to a great “ geanticli- 
nal ” * fold than to simple erosion. The crumpling of the 
earth’s crust threw up a fold, which, bursting open on the 
back, left the softer rocks exposed to the action of weather, 
and hence the valley. 

The Little Sequatchee has also been eroded by the action 
of water, frost and heat until the Jbottom is quite a thou¬ 
sand feet below the general surface of the Table-land. The 
limestone appears a third of the way up to the top, and 
upon this part of the slope the timber, consisting of poplar, 
ash, walnut, gum and white oak, is of extraordinary size. 
It is not uncommon to find poplar trees sixty or eighty 
feet to the first limb, and six or seven feet through. The 
finest white ash in the State is to be met with here. The 
walnut trees are not abundant, but of mammoth propor- 

* This with its counterpart “geosynclinal” are terms introduced by 
Dana to express the bending of the earth’s crust and not simply the bending 
of the strata See Manual of Geology, revised Edition, page 740. 





COAL-FIELD. 


15 


\ 


tions. White oaks are common that will measure from four 
to five feet in diameter. Millions of feet of the very best 
lumber in this valley await the construction of a railway. 

Everywhere, upon the top of the mountain, timber may 
be found in sufficient quantities to justify the erection of 
saw-mills. Tanbark from the extensive groves of chestnut 
oak can be procured in unlimited quantities on top of the 
mountain, and especially upon the sides and tops of the 
ridges that make up the upper coal measures. We shall 
go more into detail as to the locality of such groves when 
we enter upon a specific description of the Little Sequatchee 
coal-field. 

One other item demands a passing notice. I refer to the 
sand of which the main conglomerate rock is formed. At 
many places, especially where the covering of clay and 
loose sand is several feet thick, this conglomerate rock ap¬ 
pears to be loosely cemented. When a blast is made in 
such loosely aggregated rock, it is resolved into its ele¬ 
ments—sand and gravel. This sand, when washed, is 
dazzling white. It has been tested for the manufacture of 
plate glass, and found to be exceedingly well adapted to 
such a purpose. It is mined and shipped to the glass-works 
at New Albany, Indiana, and is used on the locomotives to 
increase the friction of the wheels. Here, then, we have 
the very best quartzose sand near unlimited supplies of coal. 
Limestone suitable for making lime lies contiguous, and 
timber for making potash is abundant, so that the essential 
ingredients for the manufacture of glass are practically 
inexhaustible. No place can be found on the continent 
where all the materials for making glass are so abundant, 
cheap and accessible. The sand can be mined for a few 
cents per ton. The slack of the coal can be utilized in 
the furnaces, and the timber and limestone are so common 
that they have not even a nominal value. 

This much generally about the Table-land, all of which 


16 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


applies to the Little Sequatehee coal region. The whole 
coal region of Tennessee is but little known. It is a region 
almost in its primeval wildness, where one may ride for 
hours without seeing the trace of a human habitation, a re¬ 
gion where the wild deer still roams, and where the bear cau¬ 
tiously venturing from his lair at night, makes an occa¬ 
sional descent upon the hog-pens of the settlers, bearing 
away his prize in safety. Notwithstanding its present wild 
character, this region is destined to be the theater of great 
industrial activity, for its natural gifts are such that a people 
advancing in the arts of peace and civilization, must sooner 
or later call them to their aid. There is no positive ad¬ 
vance in this age without the potential agency of steam, 
and steam is greatly dependant upon abundant supplies of 
coal. 

In the Little Sequatehee coal-field we shall include the 
Sewanee mines, at Tracy City; the whole of the coal-field 
drained by the Little Sequatehee river, and its tributaries 
’Peter Cave Fork, Sewanee, Pocket, etc.; also, that drained 
by the head waters of Collins river, and the mines now 
worked at the University of the South. 

Sewanee Mines. The outcrop of the coal at these mines 
is 1,922 feet above the sea. The tops of the highest 
rocks in the vicinity reach an elevation of 2,161 feet. 
This property consists of 25,000 acres of land, nearly every 
foot of which is underlaid with coal. The seam worked at 
present extends over 8,000 acres. A railway 21 miles long 
belongs to the property, and connects Tracy City with 
Cowan, a village on the Nashville and Chattanooga Rail¬ 
road, 87 miles south of Nashville. 

The following section taken at that place, and down the 
Gulf of the Gizzard, will serve to show the number and 
thickness of the several seams. 


COAL-FIELD. 


17 


SEWANEE SECTION. 

(13) Conglomerate; cap rock of the upper plateau, and 


the uppermost stratum in the region. 50 feet, 

% (12) Coal . 6 inch. 

0 (11) Shale . 23 feet. 

(10) Coal, outcrop. J foot. 

£ (9) Dark Clayey Shale . 1 foot. 

pq (8) Sandy Shale . 25 feet. 

' (7) Sandstone . 86 feet. 

^ (6) Shale , more or less sandy. 45 feet. 

(5) Coal, Main Sewanee, now worked. 3 to 7 feet. 

w (4) Shale, some of it sandy. 42 feet. 

£ (3) Coal, outcrop. 1 foot. 

(2) Shale . 5 feet. 

(1) Sandstone . 24 feet. 


I 

•r* 


SB ^ 

P *-s 

SB ca 

< S 

P ‘42 


£ e 


o 

t-3 


CONGLOMERATE , mountain covering,. 

'(10) Coal, outcrop, (sub-conglomerate). 

(9) Shale, with clay at top. 

(8) Sandstone, Cliff Rock, (Lower Cong, of JEtna Mines) 

(7) Coal, outcrop, (Cliff Vein). 

(6) Shcde, with a few inches of indurated clay at top... 

(5) Sandy Shale . 

(4) Sandstone, hard. 

(3) Coal, (Shale Vein). 

(2) Hard Sandstone, local. 

(1) Shale, including a thin sandstone.. 


70 feet. 
i to 1 foot. 
10 feet. 
65 feet. 
§ to 3 feet. 
8 feet. 
22 feet. 
78 feet. 
1 to 3 feet. 
20 feet. 
20 feet. 


The Main Sewanee seam will average about 4J feet. Its 
largest development is 10 feet 4 inches, and least 2 feet. 
Wherever the coal is thickest the superincumbent mountains 
are low, and the laminae of the coal are more disturbed. Under 
the heaviest weight the coal is often very thin. When the 
weight above is constant, the seam is very regular and un¬ 
varying in its thickness. The seam has a general dip to the 
north-east of about eight feet to the mile. 

There are 405 persons employed at these mines, 210 of 
whom are convicts. A population of 1,800 is supported by 
the mining operations at this place, and here is found the 

best market for farm products on the Cumberland moun- 

2 




























18 


/ 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


tains. The average day’s work for the coal miner is eighty- 
two bushels of coal. The screenings are made into coke, 
there being about 4,000 bushels made daily. The company 
at present has 120 ovens, and the coke is shipped to Alaba¬ 
ma, Chattanooga, and other points, and is used in the man¬ 
ufacture of iron, for which purpose it is said to be very su¬ 
perior, owing to its freedom from sulphur and other impuri¬ 
ties. The coal is rather singular in its structure, being soft 
and shelly, with contorted laminae and a polished shining 
surface. It is very pure, showing about 65 per cent, of car¬ 
bon and only about 6 per cent, of ash. As a coking 
coal it is equal to any in the State. 

It is now used for the manufacture of gas at the Insane 
Asylum, near Nashville, and for more than a year was used 
at the gas works in Nashville. The manager in a statement 
made to the company says that by the addition of resin it 
is equal to the best Pittsburg coal for making gas. 

For manufacturing purposes and for grates it is highly 
esteemed. It is very dry and its specific gravity is below 
the average. The waste in digging is considerable, but this 
is used in the manufacture of coke. 

Coal (the run of the mines) is delivered at the following 
price : 

To Cowan...per bus. 6J to 7c. 

“ Chattanooga. “ 9 to 10c. 

“ Nashville. u 

Coke is delivered at the following rates: 

To Cowan....per bus. 5 to 6 c. 

“ Chattanooga. “ 7 c. 

“ Rising Fawn Furnace, Ala. “ 9Jc. 

“ Bawtow Furnace, near Atlanta, Ga., “ 10c. 

The subjoined table shows the amount of coal which has 

been raised and shipped from these mines since they were 
first opened in June, 1866. This table is of interest in 








COAL-FIELD. 


19 


showing the regularity of increase in coal production. In 
1866 the shipments for seven months, beginning with June 
.were 924 cars; in 1876—for the same months, the ship¬ 
ments amounted to 6,874 cars, each one averaging ten tons. 

SHIPMENTS FROM SEWANEE MINES. 


m 

+-> 

c 

1866 

| 

1867 1 

1868 

1869 

1870 

1871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875 

1876 

o 

VH 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

Cars 

January. 


340 

437 

408 

502 

452 

866 

936 

1204 

781 

941 

1144 

February.. .. 


268 

358 

388 

367 

501 

1107 

719 

1,000 

1181 

March. 


219 

434 

408 

538 

362 

850 

927 

646 

602 

1270 

April. 1 


268 

266 

243 

364 

327 

795 

822 

653 

913 

1022 

May. 


286 

255 

119 

237 

346 

646 

788 

617 

587 

580 

1120 

June. 

68 

239 

231 

110 

245 

346 

495 

531 

557 

July. 

42 

201 

230 

136 

225 

297 

781 

564 

622 

631 


August. 

115 

208 

254 

191 

179 

457 

893 

857 

778 

913 


September .. 

123 

406 

347 

293 

302 

656 

877 

1008 

849 

1,011 


October. 

162 

369 

261 

428 

546 

780 

1,054 

930 

1014 

1,287 


November .. 

189 

453 

557 

462 

642 

870 

1,055 

834 

1129 

1,280 

1,195 


December... 

225 

368 

428 

502 

564 

800 

1,004 

546 

942 


Totals. 

924 

3625 

4085 

3688 

4711 

6194 

10,252 

9938 

9337 

10,910 



The grand total for ten years is 69,401 cars, or 694,010 
tons. Less than 200 acres have been mined. This seam on 
the company’s lands will supply 27,000,000 tons yet before 
exhaustion, and this without tapping any of the seams of 
the Lower Measures. 

The President of the company in a recent statement uses 
this language: 

“ The year just closed was a good year’s work, and shows 
over three and a half millions of bushels of coal mined and 
shipped. The most gratifying fact connected with this en¬ 
terprise is that, as the reports show, we have economized 
this work until we can mine coal and ship it 21 miles, keep¬ 
ing up our improvements and paying interest on the invest¬ 
ment, and make money selling coal at about 7J cents per 
bushel of 80 pounds. No company in Pennsylvania is do¬ 
ing better than this. 
















































































20 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


“ The value of the coal as a coking coal, as well as for 
making steam, being now settled, and the quantity of coal 
being practically inexhaustible, and the railroad of this com¬ 
pany being the key to more than 50,000 acres of coal—all 
of superior quality—far surpassing all the other coal fields 
of Tennessee, the future growth of this company, and the 
immense value of the enterprise to the prosperity of Ten¬ 
nessee, are assured facts. By lateral or branch roads, and 
by opening other mines, the business of the company may 
be made to the South what the Beading Bailroad is to Penn¬ 
sylvania.” 

The company has five locomotives and about 149 cars. 
At the mines a town containing a population of 1200 has 
been built up. This place, Tracy City, has four or five 
mercantile establishments, two churches, and good schools* 
All along the railway to Cowan signs of a vigorous improve¬ 
ment are displayed on every side, and the time is not far 
distant when this must become one of the most populous, 
as .it is one of the most healthful, portions of the State. 
Near the junction of this railroad and the Nashville & Chat¬ 
tanooga there is a level expanse bordering one of the tribu¬ 
taries of the Elk, in which the village of Cowan is built. 
The banks of this stream are limestone, and are sufficiently 
high for the erection of furnaces.* The facility and cheap¬ 
ness with which iron ores of several varieties can be obtained 
in Georgia and Alabama, as well as in Tennessee, and the 
cheapness of north bound freight, together with the conven¬ 
ience and cheapness of fuel, render it probable at no distant 
day that this place may be the seat of extensive iron manu¬ 
facture. 

The Parmelly Bank. On Indian Creek, a tributary of 
the Little Sequatchee, seven miles a little south of east from 
Tracy City, is the outcropping of this valuable seam of coal. 
It belongs to the Cliff Vein of the Lower Coal Measures, 
which is so persistent over this part of the Tennessee coal- 


COAL-FIELD. 


21 


field. The outcropping here is in two places, one of which 
is over seven feet thick. This has been worked to a lim¬ 
ited extent, and furnishes a very hard, block coal, which, 
when exposed, resists the action of the weather for years. 
The seam at this place has not been worked to the bottom. 
It shows at present nearly five feet, and it has been worked 
about two feet lower than at present appears. There is but 
little doubt that the seam, when its full thickness is dis¬ 
closed, will show eight feet of good, solid coal, free from 
slate, and almost free from pyrites. The coal is capped by 
a thick sandstone, and is unquestionably the Cliff Vein. The 
second outcrop is about fifty yards west of this, immediately 
under a waterfall which dashes over a cliff of sandstone. A 
deep basin has been worn out at the foot of the waterfall, and 
in low water a fine exposure of coal presents itself. The thick¬ 
ness is equal to the outcropping before mentioned. So far as 
I could perceive the coal is entirely horizontal. These banks 
are near the Marion and Grundy county line, thirteen and a 
half miles from Jasper. The country between this bank and 
Tracy City is characterized by some high ridges belonging to 
the Upper Coal Measures. Between the ridges the land is 
flat, and sparsely wooded with white oak, black oak, chestnut, 
and chestnut oak, with here and there a pine. The soil ap¬ 
pears to be above the average of the Table-land in product¬ 
iveness, and many freshly-planted vineyards and apple 
orchards are seen about the farm houses. Upon the ridges 
and slopes the timber is heavier and of a better quality, 
from which railroad ties could be obtained in any quantity. 

Prior’s Bank. This lies three miles north of the Par- 
melly Bank, and outcrops under the cliff sandstone upon 
the margin of Clear Fork, another tributary of the Little 
Sequatchee. The outcrop here shows six feet of coal, though 
the full thickness of the seam does not appear, the bottom being 
covered with debris. It would doubtless measure eight feet. 
There can be no question as to the identity of this and the 


22 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


Parmelly Bank three miles distant. The seam shows per¬ 
fect horizontally. All the conditions for mining are favor¬ 
able. The surface features are such as to make the drain¬ 
age perfect, and an easy grade can be had for a tramway to 
carry the coal down to the Little Sequatchee Valley. To 
bring it back by a railroad to Tracy City there would be no 
difficult grades to overcome. While there are ridges be¬ 
tween this bank and Tracy City, there are also low depress¬ 
ures through which a branch railroad may be cheaply con¬ 
structed. 

Green’s Bank. This forms another element for the deter¬ 
mination of the persistency of the Cliff Vein. The coal 
here shows itself along the escarpment of the Little Se¬ 
quatchee Valley for twenty yards or more under a thick 
sandstone. This bank lies two miles south-east of the lat¬ 
ter, and its thickness is fully equal to either of the others 
just mentioned. This bank has never been worked, but a 
pit has been sunk in it several feet in depth. The coal is 
disturbed in appearance, and in its manner of occurrence. 
This bank overlooks a great heavy timbered forest on the 
slopes of the Little Sequatchee Valley. Between this and 
the Prior Bank are some considerable ridges with excellent 

timber, mainly chestnut and oak. 

\ 

Caldwell’s Mine. This bank is in Marion county, on the 
opposite side of the Little Sequatchee from those named, 
ten and three-quarter miles above Jasper. The seam crops 
out near the confluence of Poor Fork and the Little Se¬ 
quatchee. It shows a thickness of five feet of excellent 
coal, hard, lustrous, cubical, and much prized by blacksmiths. 
It very much resembles the Pittsburg coal in appearance— 
burns with a bright flame, producing a large amount of coal 
tar, and would probably serve excellently for the manu¬ 
facture of gas. At first it was thought that this was the 
Slate Vein which lies below the Cliff Vein, but more careful 
investigation leaves but little doubt of its identity with the 


COAL-FIELD. 


23 


latter. It has the same geological horizon, being about 
100 feet above the limestone. The cliff does not show itself 
distinctly here, the debris having accumulated over it from 
the crumbling of upper conglomerate. There is no appear¬ 
ance of shale about this coal, but the sandstone is abundant. 
The bank is not sufficiently opened to determine the thick¬ 
ness of the seam with positive certainty. About 100 bushels 
only have been taken out. 

The same seam outcrops two miles below at Harris’s, and is 
five feet thick. The Shale Seam appears near Harris’s also, 
and supplies coal of superior quality, at least such is the 
report given of it by blacksmiths. 

These seams at Caldwell’s and Harris’s would be more 
easily accessible by railway than any yet mentioned as being 
on the Little Sequatchee. A survey made from this point 
of the valley to Jasper shows nowhere a grade greater than 
fifty feet per mile. A chute of 400 yards would bring the 
coal at Caldwell’s down to the level of the valley. Two 
miles above Caldwell’s, and thirteen miles above Jasper, 
’Peter Cave Fork enters Little Sequatchee from the left 
bank. This is a wet weather stream, but during the winter 
months it often rises in fearful floods, sweeping down great 
boulders over the bottoms, and carrying uprooted trees and 
drift wood in its course, lodging them in great drifts, so as 
sometimes to divert permanently the course of the stream. 
The slopes on both sides of this stream are of extraordinary 
fertility, and when cleared produce excellent crops of corn 
and wheat. The timber is very heavy; the trees of poplar, 
ash, chestnut, buttonwood, beech, and magnolia* or cucum¬ 
ber, stand in all their aged magnificence. The amount 
of lumber which could be obtained here is almost incalcu¬ 
lable. 

Near the head of ’Peter Cave Fork, on the right hand 
side, sixteen and a quarter miles above Jasper, a seam of coal 

* Tliis is the magnolia acuminata, and not the magnolia grandifiora. 






24 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


outcrops along the mountain which is, according to my own 
measurement, eleven feet eleven inches thick. Others have 
made it still thicker. This seam is perfectly horizontal, 
with a sandstone covering. Nowhere in the State is there 
a finer presentation of horizontal coal. The coal has a 
crushed appearance, very lustrous, with laminae twisted and 
curved. It may be a drop from the seam sixty feet above. 
This extraordinary development of coal is called “ The Cliff 
Vein.” It is three hundred feet or more below the top of 
the mountain. The coal is said to be very superior, and is 
so much valued by blacksmiths that they come and carry it 
away on horseback. I saw no appearance of pyrites or 
slate in it. An incline from this great outcrop, eight hun¬ 
dred feet long, with a perpendicular of three hundred feet, 
will bring the coal to the level of the valley. From this 
point to Jasper a careful survey shows a very easy grade, 
nowhere exceeding fifty feet to the mile. The estimated 
cost of grading and furnishing cross ties does not exceed 
$2,200 per mile. 

Above this great Cliff Vein, as already intimated, is an¬ 
other Cliff Vein, which shows about four feet of good hori¬ 
zontal coal. The thickness may be even greater than this, 
and may possibly reach ten or twelve feet. I am disposed 
to think that this last seam is the true Cliff Vein, while that 
below has slided down. 

Just above these outcrops is a bench of the mountain, 
slightly inclined, comprising fifteen or twenty acres, cov¬ 
ered with good pine, oak, poplar, beech, walnut, ash, and 
hickory timber; though it is unusual to see many of these 
growing so near the crest of the mountain. The under¬ 
brush consists of grape-vines, calacanthus, fringe tree, etc. 
The conglomerate cliff is very plainly marked at this 
point, showing a perpendicular face of sixty or eighty 
feet. However, there are some pathways by which the 
top of the mountain may be easily reached. Upon the 


COAL-FIELD. 


25 


main mountain top at this place the surface is quite level, 
the woods thin, and the wild mountain meadow grass of 
uncommon luxuriance, which would supply abundant food for 
thousands of cattle and sheep. Nowhere within sight, 
though long vistas opened between the scanty timber, could 
be seen a living thing. It was a solitude as complete as 
that felt by Selkirk upon the Island of Juan Fernandez. 
Not a bird winged its flight through the clear atmosphere; 
no squirrel barked his companionship; no tinkling bell was 
heard upon the still air; an awful silence brooded over the 
scene. When looking upon the untrodden grass, embla-^ 
zoned with myriads of wild flowers, with no stump or mark 
of the settler’s axe upon the trees, with no clearing and no 
houses, with no sign of domestic animals, it required no 
effort to imagine this mountain landscape as it appeared be¬ 
fore Columbus discovered America. The timber here is 
scant. A few lonely pines reared their forms above the 
lowly post oak and white oak. A few blackjacks, with 
harsh brush, gave variety to the scene. Here is the herds¬ 
man’s paradise, and the luxuriant grass upon this mountain 
top, if converted into beef, would feed the entire population 
of the State of Tennessee. 

Descending the mountain and crossing over to the left 
hand side of ’Peter Cave Fork, we find the same gloomy 
primitive forest, with luxuriant creepers hanging in grace¬ 
ful festoons from trees more than a hundred and fifty feet 
in height. The bottoms on the each side of the stream, not 
more than a hundred yards wide, have been imperfectly 
cleared by deadening the timber, and slightly scratched to 
receive the corn. The cultivation of the soil in places is 
very little better than it received from the red man. After 
reaching the top of the mountain, heavy ridges are seen 
superimposed upon the general top. The ridges contain 
the Sewanee seam, and wherever it has been searched for in 
its proper geological horizon, it has been found. The first 




26 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


ridge in going east is two miles or more long, and rises 
above the general level quite two hundred feet. Its general 
course is north and south. On the eastern side shale out¬ 
crops, and coal has been discovered at one or more places* 
From the top of this ridge, looking eastward, a deep, valley¬ 
like plain appears, one mile across and two hundred feet be¬ 
low, in which are a number of farms'. This valley is drained 
by the waters of Gray's Creek, or Poor Fork. This stream 
supplies some good water power for grist mills. Near its 
mouth, two miles below, a large spring bursts out from 
the side of the mountain in a sufficient volume to run a 
mill, and sinks alter running a short distance. Upon this 
is Caldwell's mill. 

Kelley’s Bank. Turning down the valley and crossing 
over the Kelly ridge, bounding it on the east, which is some 
half mile wide, we entered a rocky dell bordered by the 
Kelly ridge on the west and a short ridge on the east, which 
narrows toward the north until the two come together. A 
clear little stream, a tributary of Bee branch, which empties 
into Pocket, and that into Little Sequatchee, flows down 
the western base of the eastern ridge. At the margin of 
this stream, a few hundred yards from the head of the gorge, 
is Kelley's Bank, which outcrops in a seam four and a half 
feet thick. This seam is capped by twenty feet of black 
shale, and belongs to the Upper Coal Measures.. It is, with¬ 
out doubt, the main Sewanee Vein, as it has the same hori¬ 
zon, but the coal is much harder, the laminae having none 
of the crushed or shelly appearance so characteristic of that 
from the Sewanee mines. The seam is horizontal, and the 
coal laminated, but the laminae lie parallel with the seam. 
The coal is strikingly lustrous, and of excellent quality. 
This bank is only about two miles from the Caldwell Bank. 

Between the Kelley Badge and the Big Ridge, which over¬ 
looks the Big Sequatchee Valley on the east, is a compara¬ 
tive valley fully two miles wide, drained by the waters of 


COAL-FIELD. 


27 


Pocket Creek. The soil of this valley rests, at a greater or 
less depth, upon the main mountain-covering conglomerate, 
and is of more than average fertility. Near the banks of 
the streams the conglomerate comes to the surface, and mod¬ 
erate areas are found not fitted for cultivation. The growth 
is poplar, chestnut, chestnut oak, and white oak. A few 
pines are scattered at intervals on the elevated spots.' The 
trees do not stand thick upon the surface, but are of good 
size. In this valley the range for stock is excellent. Beau¬ 
tiful streams with rapid flow traverse it, all having a general 
southern course, and all meeting with their waters in the 
Little Sequatchee. A spot near the centre of this valley 
was formerly cultivated, but the young timber has sprung 
up and stands thick upon the ground. This partial open¬ 
ing extends to Pocket Creek, whose general course is south¬ 
east. This is a rapid mountain stream which makes, in its 
descent, a succession of cascades. East of this stream 
the surface begins to slope upward, and from it begins the 
building up of Big Bidge, which is four or five miles wide, 
flat topped, and extends northward for sixty miles. Here 
is the great development of the coal of the Upper Measures. 
Big Ridge is the northern prolongation of Huckleberry 
Ridge, the latter being cut nearly from it by the waters of 
Bark Camp Branch and Big Creek. The western slope of 
Big Ridge is well timbered, and the land fertile. Chestnut 
oak is especially abundant, and tan-bark could be procured 
here in any desirable quantity. This grove of chestnut oak 
extends for miles, with a few black and white oaks. The 
grass is abundant wherever the trees are thin. 

Victoria Mines. It has already been stated that the 
southern prolongation of Big Ridge is called Huckleberry 
Ridge. On the eastern face of this ridge near the escarp¬ 
ment of the Big Sequatchee Valley, eight miles above 
Jasper and one and a half miles from Ketchum\s, are the 
Victoria Mines. These mines are now opening. At the 


28 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


outcrop the coal is 56 inches thick, which increases to about 
five feet, but squeezes down to 16 inches at the distance of 
85 yards. It is capped by a heavy bed of blue shale. The 
coal is shelly and fragile, and much resembles the Sewanee. 
Yet it is to be doubted whether it is the Sewanee seam. I 
am disposed to place it below so as to make it correspond to 
the lowest coal of the Upper Measures. If it should turn 
out to be identical with the Sewanee seam, it certainly shows 
a greater variableness of thicknes at this point than at any 
other place within the State where it has been worked. 

South of the main entry, a quarter of a mile across the 
ridge is found a hollow, which makes a scallop in the Upper 
Measures, down which flows one of the small tributaries 
of the Big Sequatchee. Two other openings have here been 
made in the same seam. The seam is 20 inches thick, 
and has six or eight feet of fire-clay beneath. The top is 
capped at both these places by the same bluish shale as is 
met with at the first opening. The same seam has been 
• drifted into across another elevation south of the first 
entry. This also is thin and worthless. 

There can be no doubt as to the existance of thick beds 
of coal in the Upper Measures in this locality. A few miles 
north is found the Deakins’ Bank, where an outcrop of five 
feet is seen of very excellent coal. At Stone’s Bank near 
the latter a five feet seam also appears. It is found in 
many places near Griffith’s Creek above, also higher up 
there are many outcrops found on the headwaters of Col¬ 
lins’ river, near Kinnaird’s, on Still House Branch, and 
even as far up as Bledsoe county. Near Fikeville, Colvard’s 
Bank of the Sewanee seam is more than six feet thick. More 
than twenty other openings show the wonderful persistency 
of this bed, and it is thought to extend even as high up as 
Pennsylvania, and to be identical with coal B of Lesley. 
By all odds the Sewanee seam is the most valuable, as it is 
the most certain in its yield of any in the State. 


COAL-FIELD. 


. 29 

Returning to Tracy City by the way of Kelly’s and Bry¬ 
ant’s, many indications of coal beds are seen on Gray’s 
Creek, also on the Lane Mill road, where it descends into 
Little Sequatchee Vallley. 

Turning our attention now to the region of country lying 
immediatly north and northeast of Tracy City, as far as the 
Sequatchee county line, we shall find many objects of special 
interest. In this part of the Table-land the Upper Coal 
Measures increase in thickness, and the farming areas are 
larger, and the timber better. The face of the country is 
generally more uneven. Long, swelling slopes, high ridges 
and low depressions with numerous streams are the leading 
features. The tops of the hills are generally, but not always, 
thinly wooded, but the slopes are usually well covered with 
the charcteristic growth of the mountain. Everywhere 
timber for making railroad ties is abundant, and groves of 
pine occur, and in many places thousands of hoop poles can 
be found in a limited area. 

After leaving Tracy City, going northeast, the upper pla¬ 
teau extends for two miles when it is cut in two by 
Holy Water, which runs east and empties into Little Se¬ 
quatchee river a short distance northeast of Tracy City. 
Holly Fork, a tributary of the latter stream, runs south and 
empties into Holy Water at the head of Sewanee Gulf. 
Between these two streams the country is high and rolling, 
with many shallow ravines penetrating it towards both 
streams. These ravines answer an admirable purpose in 
giving exposures to the coal, and this remark is applicable 
to almost the entire coal-field of Tennessee. 

Four miles northeast of Tracy City is Chestnut Oak 
Ridge, which rises up to an equal altitude with the coal¬ 
bearing ridges about Tracy City. This ridge is about half 
a mile wide and quite three miles long. Its course is east and 
✓west, and in addition to the vast amount of coal which lies 
embosomed beneath its surface, it can supply an almost un- 


30 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


limited quantity of tan bark. The surface is thickly set 
with chestnut oak, whose value as (l tanbark tree is not 
equaled by any other in our forests. 

Passing in a northerly direction over this ridge, we enter 
a pocket or cove which looks out eastward. Ridges en¬ 
circle it on the south, west and north, flattening down 
on the northeast side. This cove contains probably two 
square miles, anct is drained eastwardly into the Little 
Sequatchee Gulf. It has been eroded down to the main 
conglomerate of the Table-land, and has a surface nearly 
level, but it is thinly wooded. , 

On the northeast side of this pocket, and directly north 
of the head of the Little Sequatchee Gulf, the Tapper Meas¬ 
ures disappear for a considerable distance. The country 
becomes flat, presenting some good farming lands. The 
timber also improves in quality. It may be said, generally, 
that wherever the Upper Coal Measures are absent the 
country is more level and probably better adapted to agri¬ 
cultural purposes. On the breaks of the hills that point 
toward the head of the Little Sequatchee, magnificent high¬ 
way pasturage is found, where the wild grasses flourish in 
princely luxuriance. 

At the distance of nine miles in a northeasterly direction 
from Tracy City, a great forest of yellow pine begins and 
continues northward for four miles, and eastward for fifteen 
miles. This pine region lies on both sides of the Chatta¬ 
nooga and Altamont road. The timber is very abundant 
and very valuable. More than one hundred trees, from two 
to three feet in diameter, that will furnish from three to four 
twelve-foot cuts each, may be found on a single acre. 

The Swiss Colony . In this extensive pinery, about seven¬ 
ty-five families of native Swiss have settled. About 10,000 
acres are included in the colony lands, and the success 
which the colony has met with in the cultivation of the 
mountain soil is the best evidence that can be given of its 


COAL-FIELD. 


31 


value. Beginning without means, for a time the difficulties 
in the way of the colonists seemed insurmountable. They 
had neither utensils nor work-stock, and the cultivation of 
the farms was done by hand for several years. By 
industry and the practice of that rigid economy, which is 
unknown to the native American, they have managed to 
stock their places. The region which six years ago was 
bleak, desolate and uninhabited, now shows the signs of a 
thrifty population. A small village, Gruetli, has sprung 
up. The former fruitless wilderness is crowned with orch¬ 
ards and gardens, with meadows and rich fields of clover, 
rye, and even wheat. Herd’s grass and orchard grass grow 
with surprising fecundity when the character of the soil is 
considered. The yield of rye is 18J bushels per acre; 
wheat 10 to 12 bushels; Indian corn under the best culti¬ 
vation, 20 bushels. Irish potatoes make an average return 
of seven bushels to one planted. Some richly manured 
fields yield as much as twenty to one. Oats make a better 
return than any of the grain crops, the yield being about 38 
bushels per acre. Tobacco of -fine fibre and mild flavor is 
grown for home consumption. Millet is grown with profit, 
a yield of three large two-horse loads having been taken 
from half acre in one instance. Farmers do their own 
work. Oxen are used instead of horses on the farm. 
There is an average of about two cows to each family in 
the colony. Butter and cheese are exported in limited 
quantities. About 2000 pounds of the former and 1000 of 
the latter having been made during the past year. Six 
hundred gallons of wine were made from the nine acres of 
vineyard. About seventy-five acres have been planted in 
.apple trees, and the colonists expect to derive the largest 
revenue from this source. There is one school having 109 
scholars enrolled, sixty-five in regular attendance. A por¬ 
tion of these lands has been set apart for school purposes. 
Two saw mills are kept employed. Lumber sells at $12 per 


32 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


thousand. An establishment for making wagons is carried 
on, which turns out one wagon complete each month. 
A blacksmith shop is carried on in connection with it, also 
a paint shop. The saw mills have grist mills in connection, 
all run by water power supplied by the head branches of 
Collins’ river. 

There are two or three outcrops of coal on the lands be¬ 
longing to the colonists, which show from two to two and a 
half feet of good coal. Very little of it is used at present, 
however. 

The colony is now out of debt, and is growing in pros¬ 
perity every year. The houses are neat and tasteful, and 
the yards are ornamented by evergreens and flowers. It 
would be difficult to find in any part of the State a community 
that has made more rapid advances within the same time 
than this colony. They have all the means of living within 
themselves. What they have done without money or as¬ 
sistance is an earnest of what may be done with these 
mountain lands by the application of capital and intelligent 
labor. 

Coal of Little Mountain. The colony’s lands lie five or 
six miles east of Altamont. Five miles east of the colony 
is seen a high ridge running northeast and southwest, and 
extending, with a few interruptions, southward to Tracy 
City, and northward to Cumberland county. It is known 
in the locality east of the colony as Little Mountain. Its 
entire length, reckoning from Tracy City to Cumberland 
county, is not less than sixty miles. This is unquestionably 
the great coal-field of Tennessee. The Upper Measures, 
as well as the Lower ones here, reach their greatest 
development. 

We propose to give a detailed description of this part of 
the coal-field eastward, including a small part of Sequatchee 
county; and then southward to a point near the great Cliff 
Vein on ’Peter Cave Fork spoken of heretofore. This 


COAL-FIBLD. 


33 


will complete an entire survey of this region east and north 
of Tracy City. 

At the western base of Little Mountain is a large area on 
both sides of the Altamont and Chattanooga road that is 
comparatively flat and well set in timber, mostly white oak, 
red oak and chesnut. In the low swamp-like flats, the red 
flowering maple prevails. This region supplies as fine 
grazing grounds as can be found any where, the surface 
being clothed with a rank, rich herbage. In appearance 
this area looks like a wide river bottom, extending for sev¬ 
eral miles up and down the western side of Little Mountain, 
being about two miles wide. The absence of undergrowth 
is noticeable. The practice of setting the leaves on fire in 
early spring kills out all the small bushes and undergrowth. 

There is an offset here to Little Mountain and a notch 
which runs southward from the Altamont and Chattanooga 
road, forming Kinnaird’s Cove. From this cove flows 
Woodley’s creek, a tributary of Walter’s creek, which 
empties into Collins’ river. On the east side of Woodley’s 
creek, Little Mountain rises to a still greater height, but on 
the west side it melts down on a level with the plain. Out¬ 
cropping along the margin of Woodley’s creek is the 
Sewanee seam, where it is seen in four or five places nearly 
on a level with the water. The seam here is from three to 
four feet thick, and shows coal very hard, heavy, intensely 
black, and of a glistening lustre. 

On a tributary of Woodley’s creek known as Still House 
creek, one mile from the Sequatchee county line is Barker’s 
Bank. The coal here is from three to four feet thick, and 
is of the same quality as that already spoken of. All the 
coal outcrops in this locality are capped by a thick bed of 
bluish shale, and evidently belong to the Sewanee seam. 

Above the Sewanee seam, 50 feet, appears at this place 
another seam that is workable. This is seen on the farm 
of A. L. Deakins, three miles from the Barker Bank, and 

3 


34 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


/ 


is about two feet thick. Four miles east of Deakins* in 
Sequatchee county, and seven miles southwest of Dunlap, 
occurs the great Deakins’ bank. This is 4 feet 8 inches 
thick at the outcrop, and increases to 4 feet 10 inches at 
the distance of twenty feet. This coal is hard and block. 
Overlying the coal is a stratum of bluish shale 12 feet 
thick. This outcrop belongs to the Sewanee vein. The 
bank has been opened directly on Hicks’ branch, a small 
stream that flows southward into Pickett’s creek, a tributary 
of the Big Sequatchee. The stream has cut a gorge in the 
Upper Coal Measures nearly down to the level of the con* 
glomerate rock. This gorge is three miles long and a half 
mile wide and the coal is seen about one mile from the head. 
The tongue of land between this gorge and the Big Se¬ 
quatchee Valley is two miles wide at this point. 

One mile south-east of the bank described, on a branch 
of Hicks’s Creek, is Stone’s Bank, which is separated from 
Deakins’ by a little tongue of land. This is no doubt the 
same seam. It is said to be six feet thick, though at the 
time of my visit the dirt had fallen in so that the thickness 
could not be measured with exactness. Both this and the 
Deakins’ Bank show horizontal seams with a capping of 
slate. The coal from both banks has an excellent local rep¬ 
utation. 

Returning now to Kinnard’s Cove, which has a northern 
outlet, and in which Woodley’s Creek takes its rise, we find 
a farming country of more than average fertility. The 
timber in this cove is heavy, and of the most valuable spe¬ 
cies. Going to the southern extremity of the cove and 
climbing the Upper Coal Measures, which are here between 
four and five hundred feet in thickness, a flat, level table¬ 
land extends southward, eastward, and westward for many 
miles. The top of this second mountain resembles, in al¬ 
most every particular, the main top of the Table-land. The 
timber is some larger and thicker, and consists of a greater 


COAL-FIELD, 


35 


quantity of chestnut oak and chestnut, with fewer red oaks 
and white oaks. The wild grasses are not so abundant, 
though the soil appears to be deeper, fewer rocks coming 
to the surface. 

A dull, unvarying landscape extends from the head of the 
cove southward four miles, where it is interrupted by a deep 
cove looking out westward, and known as Bear Pen Cove. 
Crossing this cove the same high plateau continues south¬ 
ward beyond Victoria Mines and Tracy City, the southern 
part being denuded by the gulfs of the Little Sequatehee 
river and its tributaries. Near Bear Pen Cove begin some 
of the gorges made by the head streams of ’Peter Cave 
Fork, upon which, as the reader will remember, the Big 
Cliff Vein of the Lower Measures appears. Between Bear 
Pen Cove and the Big Cliff Vein, about two miles north¬ 
east of the latter, are the ’Possum Abe Banks. There are 
three of these all in the Sewanee seam, and showing, as is 
said, four feet of good coal, though the openings had fallen 
in at the time of my visit. From Deakins’ Bank to the 
’Possum Abe Banks, a distance of ten or twelve miles, there 
is no interruption of the Upper Measures. Whenever the 
coal outcrops it shows a thick seam. Outlets for it may be 
made either by the Big Sequatehee or Little Sequatehee Val¬ 
ley, or by the way of Tracy City. A large presentation of 
coal is found near Payne’s Cove, north-west of Tracy City. 

It may be well to mention here that there is a region of 
country lying immediately south and west of Tracy City 
•extending to the Alabama line, and included in the counties 
of Marion and Franklin, which contains quite a large amount 
of excellent coal. Nearly all, however, pertains to the 
Lower Measures. The Upper Measures are met with only 
in one or two knolls. Two miles west of Tracy City is 
what is called Thompson’s bank, which belongs to the 
Upper Measures. The “ Lower Mines,” about ten miles 
west of Tracy City, on the railroad, was worked for a con- 


36 


LITTLE SEQUATCIIEE 


siderable time by the Sewanee Company. The bed here 
averaged three feet, and the coal taken out was hard and 
cubical, unlike the coal of Tracy City. About thirty-two 
feet below this seam another occurs which gives from one 
and a half to two feet of good coal. This lower seam of 
the Upper Measures was worked one mile and a half below 
the Lower Mines for some time. 

Near Moffat, a thriving little village six miles west of 
Tracy City, on the line between Grundy and Marion 
counties, some coal has been taken out of the Lower Meas¬ 
ure for local purposes. It is a free burning coal, and well 
suited for grates. Moffat is distinguished for its excellent 
institution of learning for young ladies, and also for the 
magnificence of the mountain scenery and pure freestone 
and chalybeate waters. Some seventy or eighty acres around 
the village have been planted in orchards. A few manu¬ 
facturing establishments have been started, and it bids fair 
to rival any town on the mountain. It is settled mainly by 
persons who have come to the State since the war. 

The most interesting developments of coal in this field 
west and south of Tracy City, are met with upon the lands 
belonging to the University of the South. This University 
is situated upon the escarpment of the mountain plateau in 
Franklin county. Many beautiful landscapes are seen from 
points in the vicinity. The institution is in quite a flour¬ 
ishing condition, from three to four hundred students being 
in regular attendance. The village contains a resident pop¬ 
ulation of two hundred or more. This population is noted 
for its refinement and culture, and is composed of persons 
who have sought the place for its educational advantages. 

Two coal mines are opened at this place, both belonging 
to the University. One of these, leased for a term of years 
by P. Gillam, lies east of the University. The seam worked 
here is the Cliff Vein, which has not developed a thickness 
exceeding twenty inches. The coal is very hard, but diffi- 


COAL-FIELD. 


37 


cult to mine. The lessee, at the time of my visit, was pros¬ 
pecting for the lower Shale Vein. The Cliff Vein at this 
place is about sixty feet above the limestone. About two 
thousand bushels are annually mined at this place for local 
consumption. The coal is brought up an incline to the top 
of the mountain by horse power with a windlass. 

Another mine has been opened one and a half miles north¬ 
west of the University, and is now worked by H. H. Rob¬ 
erts. This seam, which is the Shale Vein, lies one hundred 
and sixty-nine feet below the bottom of the conglomerate, 
which here thins down to a feather edge. The seam is only 
eighteen feet above the limestone, which shows a decrease 
in the series of strata comprising the Lower Measures as 
compared with the same in the Tracy City section of over 
one hundred feet, or one-third of the whole. The seam is 
capped by sandy shales and sandstones. The shale beneath 
the coal is so indurated that it is nearly as hard as limestone. 
The thickness of the coal at this point is about thirty inches. 
At one or two places it swells out to forty-two inches. There 
is found nowhere in the State a coal superior to this as a 
grate coal. It is a free burning coal, very hard and cubical. 
It resembles the best Pittsburg Goal. It is deep black and 
shiny and shows a beautifully laminated appearance. It 
will weather almost as well as a limestone rock, owing to its 
freedom from iron pyrite. For transportation on railroads 
to distant markets, or for use on steam vessels, there is none 
superior to it anywhere. It is probably also a good gas coal. 
It leaves, as a residuum, a white ash. About thirty thou¬ 
sand bushels are taken out annually, a large portion of 
which is consumed at the Universitv, some twelve or fifteen 
cars only being shipped to Fayetteville and other points. 
The demand for this coal is continually increasing. 

The Slate Vein is noted for the excellence of its coal. 
Wherever it has been opened, whether in White, Grundy, 
Franklin, or Marion, the character of the coal is the same. 


38 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE 


to 

<D 

f-i 

P 

CO 

03 

<v 


u 

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o 

1-4 


Above this are two, probably three, other seams. The fol¬ 
lowing is a section at this point approximately correct: 

10. Conglomerate feather edge. 

9. Shale, with probably a thin seam of coal..40 feet. 

8. Cliff Sandstone.74 feet. 

7. Coal...10 inches. 

6. Fire Clay. 1 foot. 

5. Shale. 3 feet. 

4. Coal (?). 

3. Sandy Shales.50 feet. 

2. Coal, Roberts’ Banks.30 inches. 

1. Shale and Sandstone...18 feet. 

Limestone, gray. 

Coal, 7, shows itself under a waterfall. 

An attempt is now making by Mr. Caldwell to open the 
Shale Vein two miles east of Tantallon, on the Nashville 
and Chattanooga Railroad. It shows in the debris on the 
side of the mountain from three to four feet thick, but it 
has evidently been dropped from above. Should this coal 
be found in workable quantities, it will prove very profit¬ 
able, as the means of transportation here are very largely 
increased. In Lost Cove, between Tantallon and the Uni¬ 
versity, Amos Garner has recently opened the Shale Vein 
and taken out twenty bushels or more of excellent coal. 
The seam promises well. South of this, coal is also mined 
to some extent. The thickness of the seam varies from fif¬ 
teen to twenty-five inches. 

Still further south, in the Valley of* Crow Creek, th? 
Cliff Vein shows a thickness of three feet. The coal at 
this point has thin seams of mineral charcoal. The Shale 
Vein, ninety-four feet below, has a thickness of two and a 
half or three feet. The Lower Measures at this point re¬ 
semble the Lower Measures of the Sewanee Section, as 
they appear in the gulf of the Fiery Gizzard. 

The region of Battle Creek and JEtna Mines lie south 
and south-east of the Little Sequatchee Coal-field. The 
Upper Measures do not appear at Battle Creek Mines, but 













COAL-FIELD. 


39 


show a thickness south of the Tennessee river at the TEtna 

0 

Mines of two hundred and twenty feet. A full account of 
Battle Creek and TEtna Mines may be found in the G ology 
of Tennessee, by Salford, and in the “ Resources of Ten¬ 
nessee/ 7 

The eminent advantages offered by Cowan for the loca¬ 
tion of furnaces have already been mentioned. The same 
advantages also pertain to Big Sequatchee Valley. On the 
eastern side of this valley the fossiliferous red hematite, or 

dyestone ore, appears regularly stratified. This stratum or 

•> 

layer crops out about sixty feet above the valley. It begins 
at Amos Lewis 7 , four and a half miles above Jasper the ter¬ 
minus of the Bridgeport and Jasper branch of the Nash¬ 
ville and Chattanooga railroad. From this place it may be 
traced northward for twenty-eight or thirty miles. It is 
often cut by ravines so as to permit the easy construction of 
tramways or railroads. Up these ravines it appears on both 
sides, as well as in the main mountain mass, which here 
takes the name of Walden 7 s Ridge. Indeed, each one of 
these ravines forms a cul-de-sac with an encircling red band 
of iron ore. 

Above the farm of A. P. Mitchell the stratum is com¬ 
posed of three or more ledges, and appears near the crest 
of a ridge, which is eight hundred yards wide and fourteen 
miles long. This ridge runs parallel with the valley, and is 
two hundred feet high. The ore dips slightly toward the 
mountain, the stratum being nearly as low where it enters 
Walden’s Ridge as the valley proper. Above the northern 
end of this iron ridge there is a line of knobs, or rather a 
dissected ridge, in which fossil ore abounds. The thickness 
of the outcrops is variable On the hill above Mitchell’s 
house, nine miles above Jasper, the seam shows a thickness 
of four feet. Nearer the base of the mountain is Laurel 
Hill, at the foot of which flows Laurel Branch, a stream 
which dries up during the summer months. On both sides 


40 


LITTLE SEQUATCHEE COAL-FIEILD. 


of this stream the presentation is very fine. At many places 
the ore shows solid ledges six feet thick. There appears to 
be a second seam below this, but in all probability it is a 
slide from the one above. The strata all dip slightly to the 
south-east. A section at this place shows, 

7. Lower Coal Measures, thin. 


6. Mountain Limestone...200 feet. 

5. Siliceous Group. 50 feet. 

4. Black Shale (Devonian). 30 feet. 

3. Limestone, Upper Silurian. 20 feet. 

2. Iron ore.4 to 6 feet. 

1. Limestone, Upper Silurian. 


In addition to the red fossil ore found on the eastern side 
of this valley, there occurs all over the Cumberland Table¬ 
land a limonite freshly deposited from chalybeate springs; 
also immense deposits of clay iron-stone and black band. 
All these ores could be made valuable by being worked with 
richer but more refractory ores. 

A railroad twenty miles long, built down the Little Se- 
quatchee Valley to within two miles of Jasper, then turn¬ 
ing north-easterly, crossing the Big Sequatchee near the 
mouth of the Little Sequatchee, would unite the thickest 
coal bed and the thickest stratified iron bed in the State, 
while the banks of the Big Sequatchee lying between the 
two would give the very best sites for the erection of blast 
furnaces. At no place on the line of such a railroad would 
the grade exceed fifty feet to the mile. 

Sequatchee Valley is blessed with a fertile soil and a 
healthful climate. It is a valley teeming with the richest 
productions of forest and field, from which are sent out an¬ 
nually immense droves of hogs and cattle, as well as great 
quantities of grain. Abundant supplies could be had for 
furnaces from this valley at cheap rates. 











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